Lizzie lives in a village just outside Canterbury in Kent and works as a specialist nurse in a local hospital trust. Outside of work it’s about family, friends, sports and animals. Lizzie's dream was to run the London marathon, so after applying for a ballot place with no success for 10 years she sought out a charity place with Mencap!
I’m a leader within our village running club- Stour Striders. We meet weekly for different sessions as well as races. I always wanted to run for a charity, and I wanted one that I had a personal connection to, to motive me to do my best and raise vital funds. In my job I come across people with a learning disability A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things. and see first hand how they are often at a disadvantage in many aspects of life- which is both unfair and upsetting to witness.
"A family friend’s daughter has had a lot of support from Mencap throughout her life, and she has loved being part of the Mencap family and her family have had great support- so I applied and was thrilled to be offered a place to represent Mencap at this year's London Marathon.
Since being signed up, I’ve had a great support from the Mencap team but also support within the WhatsApp group of fellow runners. What's more my favourite colour is pink which is the charity colour!"
We asked Lizzie how she has approached the challenge of fundraising.
“Plan ahead, I wanted to get the majority of my fundraising target completed as early as possible, so that after Christmas when the training increased, I was able to primarily focus on the running rather than the added stress about meeting my fundraising target. I would certainly recommend a quiz night, which was very successful for me raising over £1700 towards my total £2500! I also organised some new kit for both our Bootcamp and Running club, with some of the money coming towards fundraising."
Lizzie has already raised over £5,000 which is incredible and we are extremely grateful for all her hard work fundraising. £5,000 could help pay for our media team to support twenty families to tell their story in the national media about their loved one being detained in a mental health hospital and call for change.
Check out one of our events now and support people with a learning disability to live happy and healthy lives.